In a post on Fast Company last Thursday, Lindstrom
described the various ways Whole Foods "primes" its customers to
shop. Pretty flowers are just the beginning:

Ice, ice, baby. Hummus and cucumber dip, for
example, don't need to be chilled, but Whole Foods insists on
doing so to convey the sense of "freshness and purity."

Color-coded fruit. Lindstrom says Dole and other
growers have issued banana guides to greengrocers, depicting "the
various color stages a banana can attain during its lifecycle.
Each color represents the sales potential for the banana in
question," and "sales records show that bananas with Pantone
color 13-0858 (otherwise known as Vibrant Yellow) are less likely
to sell than bananas with Pantone color 12-0752 (also called
Buttercup." So while something may look fresh, it actually isn't.

Packing up. Those cardboard boxes stuffed with
"anywhere from eight to ten fresh cantaloupes" are left that way
purposefully "for that rustic, aw-shucks touch. In other
words, it's a symbolic to reinforce the idea of old-time
simplicity." Apparently nothing says "Must. Spend. Now!" like the
Grapes of Wrath, even if the giant stack of crates was
designed to look like laborers piled on box after box.